Alan Nelson's Daily Commentary for 11 September 1999

Meck Island, Republic of Marshall Islands

This was my last chance to get back to the island of Meck before I have to leave. I felt a little guilty leaving some files unprocessed back at the Ops Center, but I will have to do them tomorrow. I thought this was going to be my second day off since I got here. That turned out to be half right!

I took the police boat that goes to Meck on Saturdays and Sundays. Usually that is the only boat going on those days, but right now this place is gearing up for a big mission at the end of the month where a missile will be shot from Meck that is supposed to intercept and destroy a missile shot from Vandenburg. So the catamaran was also running. The police boat is much smaller, equally fast and a pleasant break from the catamaran "routine". Oh yeah, it left an hour later, too!

An aside here...there was an Aegis class cruiser in the harbor a couple days ago. The local paper got slipped under our door this morning and on the front page was a description of this cruiser's specifications: 523 feet long, two diesel engines generating 80,000 shaft horsepower, capable of cruising at 30 knots. The propellers are controllable and reversible giving this boat the capability of going from full 30-knot cruise to a dead stop in less than two boat lengths. Wow!

Back to Meck...I was relying on someone in the tethersonde crew to be my "buddy" for snorkeling. But the tethersonde tower and site were being dismantled. This active site that I had photographed and described back on August 25 was an ever smaller pile of boxes and equipment. What had been their trailer now becomes the shipping container for all the equipment. The 2,000 pound winch had a spot reserved in the back of the container where it could be bolted down. So...all the equipment, wires, phones, people, chairs...needed to be cleared out first. With no companion for snorkeling, I just started helping with the teardown. I was impressed by how much was accomplished by lunchtime.

After lunch, I was treated to my finest two hours of snorkeling yet. Meck has pools like the ones at Kwajalein (see yesterday's journal) because the army has also increased the size of this island. The similarity between the two islands' pools ends with how they were formed. The fish, clams and coral are completely different. I was treated to one school of 300-400 fish, each about 10 inches long and bright yellow color, who didn't mind me being around them a bit. I could just float along with them and I would be surrounded on all sides by fish within 2 feet of me.

There was also a small group of parrot fish that were light-blue with orange, red, yellow stripes and markings. They had several favorite coral heads that they were feeding on and seemed to make a circuit amongst these feeding spots. Without much effort, I could take a deep breath, dive down and hold on to a big rock next to one feeding spot and wait for them to swim by. They were consistently swimming by within a foot of my mask.

I was also treated to a wide variety of other fish whose names I have never heard. While walking out in the shallows before I got to the pool, two small white-tip sharks were apparently interested in my splashing as I was walking along. They approached from two different sides, got within a couple feet, then turned and made a mad dash away. I didn't see them again though I kept looking for them! I was quite surprised to see them in water less than a foot deep.

I had timed my snorkeling so that I hit the pools at low tide. But I was out swimming long enough that the tide rose appreciably while I was swimming. Towards the end of my swim, the waves were breaking over the top of the pool walls and sometimes the water was so full of bubbles from the waves breaking that I couldn't see the bottom. It was just a fabulous experience.

My boat ride back on the catamaran was bittersweet. I knew it was my last ride across the lagoon on this trip and I don't know that I will ever get back here again. But it also means that I get to see my family again soon.

I went to bed early to get a good night's sleep for a solo that I am singing in church tomorrow. That delayed this day's journal for half a day. Sorry.

Alan Nelson